Science can explain how childhood affects later life

When advocates at HAVEN meet with clients about situations of abuse, we are starting in the middle. We talk with clients about what is happening in the present. Within that process, clients often share information about the past. We then proceed with them as they determine their plans for their futures.

Though clients and advocates start together from the middle, it often leads back to the beginning, even as far back as the childhood experiences of both the clients and the abusers.

To get a basis for understanding the effects of childhood experiences, we can look to the Adverse Childhood Experience, or ACE, Study which began in 1995 as a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente's Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego, Calif. In this study, more than 17,000 people who underwent a comprehensive physical exam voluntarily provided detailed information about their childhoods.

The initial findings of the ongoing ACE study identified certain childhood experiences that are major risk factors for the leading causes of illness and death, and that also compromise the quality of peoples' lives over time.

Adverse experiences

The 10 adverse childhood experience categories identified were: psychological abuse by parents, physical abuse by parents, sexual abuse by anyone, physical neglect, emotional neglect and households in which there were any of the following: substance abuse, mental illness, separation or divorce, domestic violence or an incarcerated member. These categories describe significant life challenges experienced by the study participants as children, and six of them relate directly to abuse or neglect.

The study found that having a greater number of these adverse childhood experiences correlated with increased likelihood of substance abuse, intimate partner violence, eating disorders, multiple sexual partners and suicide attempts in the participants' lives. There was further correlation with increases in lung, heart and liver diseases as well as sexually transmitted diseases, obesity and depression. The ACE study participants continue to be tracked in order to learn more about the long term effects of childhood adversities on their physical and mental health.

Children who grow up in environments of chronic distress are found to have differences in brain development. During times when children feel physically or emotionally compromised, the part of the brain that responds to stress predominates and initiates the reactions of flight, fight or freeze as protective measures for the mind and body. Children subjected to ongoing stress tend to have more activity in the survival areas of the brain while developing fewer neural connections within the brain areas where judgment, decision making, planning, moral reasoning, emotions and sense of self evolve. These impacts on the developing brain alter how children view their world, often resulting in mistrust of other people, beliefs that the world is unsafe, compensations that assert power or relinquish it, and feelings of fear, pessimism and loss of hope. Adverse childhood experiences affect thinking, learning, problem solving, personal relationships and overall health.

By comparison, children who receive nurturing and the benefits of secure attachments with emotionally and physically safe parents and caregivers develop more connections between the cognitive and emotional parts of the brain, which research has shown actually provides them with the advantage of greater resiliency in dealing with life's challenges - mentally, emotionally and physically.

The difference

In our work at HAVEN, we find that some of our clients and most of those who abuse them have been affected by a number of the adverse childhood experiences listed above.

So what factors make the difference between the abused and the abusers? The clients are aware of the harm being done. They are seeking safety and insights, wanting to work toward positive solutions and help themselves to a better life.

Many abusers, conversely, believe that the power and control they wield are serving them well and that they are entitled to dominate the people closest to them. Thus it is uncommon for abusers to decide on their own to seek help or become non-abusive. However, those convicted of crimes related to domestic violence may be court-ordered to a batterer's treatment program, and sexual offenders usually must participate in treatment as part of their sentence.

Scientific explanations

Advances in neuroscience have revealed that the adult brain is actually more adaptable than previously believed. However, each stage of brain development is based on the previous stage. It is reasonable to infer that those who've had the benefit of more resilient brain development as children will have a better neurological basis on which to expand their overall life learning as adults. Neuroscience is helping to explain why some people become "stuck" in certain beliefs or behaviors, such as abuse, while others are able to embrace growth and change throughout their lives.

Starting at the beginning by recognizing and responding to the needs of our children for attachment, nurture and relationships will result not only in less abuse, but also greater emotional and physical health in our culture as a whole. It will also lessen the need for interventions in the middle, not only for domestic violence, but for many other serious and prevalent health concerns.

HAVEN offers support, counseling, resources and shelter for those affected by interpersonal abuse or sexual assault. Call 715-536-1300 to talk with an advocate 24 hours a day.